Early Birds on the River

 The last few sunny days have been spent on the river tracking the incoming geese and other birds. I did manage to get Geese and some Mallards between snow, storms, fog and bad lighting. There were lots of Canada Geese and quite a few Mallards

Some Geese were content to graze

The Mallards were content to try to get a mate.

Hey, look missy, a duck march just for you.

Sleepy geese must have been up all night flying here.

A little bit of open water is appreciated.

More on the Walk

This is a bit of a Hodge podge with some scenery of a totally frozen Athabasca River, some religious grounds and a cougar print.

The river looks solid, but there is an amazing amount of water flowing under the ice being deflected up, down and sideways by the bottom. Not to be trusted!

The colours came out nicely on the erosion bank.

From the signs and set-up, I figure this is a Native ceremonial site.

A possible sweat lodge?

This is a print that was huge! Likely it was from a wolf. It was too large for a coyote and not likely a cougar and too late (and cold) for a bear. This was a good day for me to forget my bear spray!

Thoughtless Thursday

Why I Wanted to Go back to Bed!

I guess it could have been worse!

 SNOW is a four letter word!

New Years Tradition

For the last few years it has been a kind of tradition to come up to the grand parents, visit, slide and otherwise play in the snow. Unfortunately, one of the local GK's did not make it, but we had fun anyway.

 Mad max enjoyed a good run in the snow.

 Not a lot of sliding was done because all three of them were tired from staying up to bring the New years in. The snow is getting pretty deep. Deep enough to bury a person ( with her permission , of course).

 After a bit, everybody went in to warm up and dry off. The temperature was just at the freezing mark, so it was a great day for the outdoors.

Happy New Years, everybody!

Random Shots Around The Acreage

The sun did come out briefly today, so as promised, here are a few random shots around the place. It is only December 12, but already it's time for the snowshoes! I couldn't do a post without a couple of horse pictures in it. 

 This is a photo at almost noon giving the maximum height of the sun above the horizon.

 The garden and green house are both well covered.

 If anybody wants to BBQ, bring a shovel and brush.

 Alpine is not impressed! And, yes, it is snowing again. The weather forecaster has said that we have received only 10 hours of sunlight this month. Humbug!

 Tucker, being an older, and wiser horse tends to take things in stride. She was still talking to me and demanding more sweet feed.

99 days till Spring!

Another Good Ride

Another sunny day at the freezing point. Tucker was not laughing so hard today when I caught her. She did enjoy the outing, but is still a little lame. Hopefully it is residual from the abscess from the spring and not arthritis. She is after all, almost 25.

 She enjoyed the open fields away from all horse eating objects, real or imagined.

 I include an older picture taken when I had company on the ride. It is much more fun riding with others. this is the field in back of us.

If you want to read some really good safety tips on dealing with horses, try this one
Link to Fernvalley